Impact Wrestling: A Genius Business Move

I may not know much of how the wrestling business works behind the scenes, but neither do many of you. I am pretty sure we do not have any former-wrestlers of a large promotion on this site (sorry to say, Ryan Clark). I do however, know a thing or two about business in general. What TNA is doing is exactly what they should be doing at exactly the right time, everyone just needs to see it from a business point of view.

We all know WWE is now dropping the word wrestling from the shows and from it's name. If I remember correctly, many people were disturbed by this. I know my first thoughts were, "why?" What Impact Wrestling (IW) is doing is playing off this emotion, your emotion. Business 101 says that all companies need to change with the competition and evolve with the times if they want to survive. Marketing the idea that you are a wrestling company when your biggest competition is scared to use the word is a simple but ingenious thing.

TNA needed a name change anyway. Sure the abbreviation was different than the competition, not including a 'W' in the mix, but when many people outside the internet fans think TNA stands for "Boobs and Butts" (PG people), you may have a problem. Again, what a perfect time to get rid of that name, and get a name that has wrestling in it. A name that forces you to say "wrestling." The competition is getting wrestling out of it's name, so to make your product stand out put something in that not only the people are looking for, but something that makes you different. I am sure if I asked you if you rather watch good wrestling on Raw or 1 hours of decent promos, you would choose the former. Differentiating your product is key in any industry, and this name change does an awesome job at that.

My next point has to do with everyone that say "TNA always takes shots at WWE" or "TNA needs to stop mentioning WWE on air." They should keep doing it, why? Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who watches TNA knows that WWE exists. Everyone also knows that WWE is the top company in the US. So why hide it? You see it all the time on TV and in advertising:

"Dominoes Pizza beats Papa John's Pizza 4 to 1 in a National taste test"
"Dominoes Pizza uses fresh ingredients, not like those other guys."

And after a while, IF (yes, IF) this IW direction works, you are going to hear "we didn't turn our back on wrestling, like those other guys," and many people are going to get the idea that WWE did. Many of us already think that, but we let our hatred for TNA blind us. We are NOT that casual wrestling fan, we are the marks, like it or not. Both WWE and TNA are not going to cater anything towards us because we are the minority. So trying to convince that fans that are not nearly as passionate about the product and just want to see good wrestling to tune is, is what IW should be doing. So whatever IW is saying may seem like bull to you, but it is not for you.

For those who say the TNA is just re-branding because of WWE is 100% right. Those of you who say that TNA is copying WWE is 100% wrong. TNA is going in a direction that the fans want, marks or casual. If your disregard the names, and I gave you these two choices, which one would you pick?

Choice 1: Company who focus hard on the in-ring product to provide the best wrestling they can offer.

Choice 2: Company who focuses on other types on media, occasionally focusing on the in-ring product.

Business 101 says find out what your target market wants, find out what your competition is doing, and adjust accordingly. TNA or IW is doing a perfect job of this. So bash it if you want, but TNA is doing the same thing WWE would do in this position. Did WWE not adapt it's product to compete with WCW in the last 90s? Exactly.

Of course Vince Russo could book this all down the drain and make this a complete waste of money for IW, time for us, and energy for me defending them, but that is for another blog.

Comments

Are you kidding me? This is a retarded move. TNA is so completley obsessed with what WWE is doing, that everything they do is in reaction to what WWE does. I officially stopped watching TNA the night they aired the Sting promo that was an exact rip off of the Undertakers promo video. Not to mention bringing in a "luchador" to combat Sin Cara, and now this name change.

TNA has the best young talent in the world, no question. From Abyss to AJ, roode, Kaz, Joe, Pope and so on. So whats their big angle they are building up to.... STING V HOGAN? They cut guys like Jay Leathal and Awesome Kong (shes kind of a guy) and bring in CHYNA? Really?

TNA is a company who had all the potential in the world, till Hogan and Bischoff took over creative. I gave them a chance, but they came in under the false pretenses of pushing the young guys, and continue to bring in and put over guys from the 90's (Chyna) and the 80's (Hogan and Flair)

And now their entire marketing plan revolves around being the extreme opposit of WWE. Business 101? How about worrying about your own product 1st instead of WWE 1st? TNA had it right back in 2005, but they lost track over the last couple years. I see nothing but bankruptcy in TNA's future. And Vince scooping up the real talent that is the bleeding heart of TNA and hopefully giving them a better chance at a future.

The Sheep I really feel that your name fits you because you're being a complete sheep right now being led by the WWE. I think it's a great marketing strategy to focus on the wrestling when WWE wants to pretend it's not what they do. Has TNA made some mistakes? Sure it has but let's not forget how bad WWE programing is right now before we start pointing fingers. Does TNA have many former WWE stars? Of course, but let's be realistic just cause WWE didn't want them doesn't mean they weren't good. Look at guys like Angle, AJ Styles, Tara and Mickie James. Were they not used well in WWE cause they weren't good? If WWE fired Rey, Ted Dibiase or Cody Rhodes would we just assume that they weren't good? Look what WWE has done to Gail Kim. She was the top Knockout a few years ago and has become little more than a pretty faced jobber in WWE. If they fired her again would that mean she wasn't that good? If Impac Wrestling hired her again would that mean they're hiring a no talent loser who couldn't hack it in WWE? Seriously let's try to be a bit less biased here. Nobody seemed to have a problem when WWE changed their strategies to fight WCW. TNA is just doing the same to try to stay alive and in my book it's a step in the right direction.

"And now their entire marketing plan revolves around being the extreme opposit of WWE. Business 101? How about worrying about your own product 1st instead of WWE 1st? TNA had it right back in 2005, but they lost track over the last couple years. I see nothing but bankruptcy in TNA's future. And Vince scooping up the real talent that is the bleeding heart of TNA and hopefully giving them a better chance at a future."

TNA was wrestling-heavy in 2005 right? So if they go back to being wrestling-heavy, how is that a bad thing? I appreciate your response, but you obviously did not read anything I wrote.

obviously you guys all missed my point completely. Lets start with Crack. I agree with your theory that "if they do" put emphasis on wrestling that they could appeal to more fans. And i did clearly say that tna has the best young wrestlers in the business. But since when has TNA been all about the in ring action under the Hogan era? They killed the x division, they dropped the ball on all of their young guys. Brought in a bunch of wash ups... and run stupid angles. It’s a gimmick to get more attention.

Which brings me to glamour girl. 1st of all i'm hardly a follower of WWE, i love all wrestling, which is why im so passionate about how poorly TNA is being run. I never said guys like AJ, pope ,morgan or even Anderson were bad pick ups. If they are young and in their prime they are not wash ups. Im talking about Chyna! I'm talking about Bully Ray, Im talking about Hogan V Sting. Wrestling needs its legends, in supporting roles. Like Flair managing fourtune... that’s good. Hogan wrestling... BAD!

If you guys are die hard TNA fans… im not going to knock you for that. And everybody has their own tastes and opinions. Its simply my opinion that the current creative direction of TNA is going down the toilet no matter how you brand it. And doing everything you do based on what WWE does is not good for future business. Creating your own product and pushing it to its fullest potential is good business.

Are you kidding me? This is a retarded move. TNA is so completley obsessed with what WWE is doing, that everything they do is in reaction to what WWE does. I officially stopped watching TNA the night they aired the Sting promo that was an exact rip off of the Undertakers promo video. Not to mention bringing in a "luchador" to combat Sin Cara, and now this name change.

TNA has the best young talent in the world, no question. From Abyss to AJ, roode, Kaz, Joe, Pope and so on. So whats their big angle they are building up to.... STING V HOGAN? They cut guys like Jay Leathal and Awesome Kong (shes kind of a guy) and bring in CHYNA? Really?

TNA is a company who had all the potential in the world, till Hogan and Bischoff took over creative. I gave them a chance, but they came in under the false pretenses of pushing the young guys, and continue to bring in and put over guys from the 90's (Chyna) and the 80's (Hogan and Flair)

And now their entire marketing plan revolves around being the extreme opposit of WWE. Business 101? How about worrying about your own product 1st instead of WWE 1st? TNA had it right back in 2005, but they lost track over the last couple years. I see nothing but bankruptcy in TNA's future. And Vince scooping up the real talent that is the bleeding heart of TNA and hopefully giving them a better chance at a future.

All of what you said has nothing to do with the topic of the blog. Nobody is saying that TNA is perfect. We are just saying that TNA rebranding it to Impact Wrestling stands out to the company that is WWE who are focusing on the entertainment side of things which isn't a bad thing.

Good post. I never really made the connection between WWE losing the "wrestling" title and TNA re-branding. I am a big WWE fan but i really hope this whole re-branding thing works for TNA to create some competition and keep WWE on its toes.